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Tough. Once again Lars von Trier tortures the audience (as he did previously on Dancer in the Dark) by upraising the darkest side of the human being. From the beginning you know that things can only get worse, but I doubt that one can figure out neither what's to come nor the powerful conclusion. Nicole Kidman's interpretation is perfect - intense, poignant, passionate, you name it. She is fantastic and so is the small cast locked inside Dogville's scenario (a wonderful creation - I wonder how something so simple can bring such a strong effect). Again, the entire cast is fantastic and for that goes an extra credit for Lars von Trier. His capability of pushing actors to the limit and extracting painful emotions from them creates a heavy atmosphere, full of tension and, at the same time, so familiar. It is not that Dogville represents the essence of our communities, but it exposes some aspects of our lives that we prefer to hide under the carpet.

In my opinion, the best thing about El Crimen del Padre Amaro is Vicente Leñero's script - updating a story from 1875 without losing the magic scenes created by Eça de Queiroz so long ago. Gael Garcia Bernal keeps proving that his talent is solid and we can expect much more from him in the future. Another good surprise is Ana Claudia Talancón, not only for her astonishing beauty, but also for a great performance as Amelia. The cast is very good and the plot, yet polemical, gives a lot to think. Again, by updating the old Portuguese story to a contemporary Mexico and inserting current issues like the relation between church and drug dealers, El Crimen del Padre Amaro raises some relevant questions about celibate, religious ethics and hypocrisy. As written in 1875, "loneliness is the greatest sin".